Yuen Kwok-yung

Yuen Kwok-yung (袁國勇) is a Hong Kong microbiologist. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong with distinction in Medicine. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Lond, Edin, Irel, HK), Surgeons (Glas, HK) and Pathologists (UK, HK). After years of clinical and laboratory training, he established the infectious disease service and rapid molecular diagnosis for cytomegalovirus and tuberculosis at the Queen Mary Hospital, the teaching hospital of the University of Hong Kong. His major research interest is on microbial hunting and novel microbes in emerging infectious diseases.

Yuen graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong in 1981 with distinction in Medicine. Initially trained as a surgeon, he switched successfully to a physician and, subsequently, a clinical microbiologist. In the outbreak of avian influenza virus H5N1 in 1997 in Hong Kong, Yuen was the first to report in Lancet about the unusual clinical severity and high mortality of infected patients, which could be identified by the in-house molecular test at his laboratory [1]. During the global outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS in 2003, he led his team in the discovery of the SARS coronavirus, being honoured as "Asian heroes of the year" in April by Time Asia Magazine [2,3,4]. Subsequently he found the natural reservoir of SARS coronavirus like virus in Chinese horseshoe bat and renewed the interest of bats as the source of novel microbes causing emerging infectious diseases [5]. His research laboratory has also identified over 40 new viruses, 9 bacteria, 2 fungi and 2 parasites of which some are suspected or confirmed pathogens: coronavirus HKU1 [6], bat coronavirus HKU2 to 13 [7,8,9], bovine and porcine hokovirus [10] and Laribacter hongkongensis in fish and human [11,12].

Yuen Kwok-yung

Yuen Kwok-yung (袁國勇) is a Hong Kong microbiologist. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong with distinction in Medicine. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Lond, Edin, Irel, HK), Surgeons (Glas, HK) and Pathologists (UK, HK). After years of clinical and laboratory training, he established the infectious disease service and rapid molecular diagnosis for cytomegalovirus and tuberculosis at the Queen Mary Hospital, the teaching hospital of the University of Hong Kong. His major research interest is on microbial hunting and novel microbes in emerging infectious diseases.

Yuen graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong in 1981 with distinction in Medicine. Initially trained as a surgeon, he switched successfully to a physician and, subsequently, a clinical microbiologist. In the outbreak of avian influenza virus H5N1 in 1997 in Hong Kong, Yuen was the first to report in Lancet about the unusual clinical severity and high mortality of infected patients, which could be identified by the in-house molecular test at his laboratory [1]. During the global outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS in 2003, he led his team in the discovery of the SARS coronavirus, being honoured as "Asian heroes of the year" in April by Time Asia Magazine [2,3,4]. Subsequently he found the natural reservoir of SARS coronavirus like virus in Chinese horseshoe bat and renewed the interest of bats as the source of novel microbes causing emerging infectious diseases [5]. His research laboratory has also identified over 40 new viruses, 9 bacteria, 2 fungi and 2 parasites of which some are suspected or confirmed pathogens: coronavirus HKU1 [6], bat coronavirus HKU2 to 13 [7,8,9], bovine and porcine hokovirus [10] and Laribacter hongkongensis in fish and human [11,12].

Latest News for: yuen kwok-yung

Scientists claim they have made a breakthrough discovery in the fight against infectious diseases ... Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists - led by microbiologist Dr YuenKwok-yung - claim the chemical is 'highly potent in interrupting the life cycle of diverse viruses' ... ....

Hong Kong scientists claim that they have made a potential breakthrough discovery in the fight against infectious diseases — a chemical that could slow the spread of deadly viral illnesses ... “This is what we call a broad-spectrum antiviral drug, which means it can kill a number of viruses,” said microbiologist YuenKwok-yung, who led the team....

In what could be a major breakthrough for medical science worldwide, researchers at the University of Hong Kong led by renewed microbiologist YuenKwok-yung claim they have identified a chemical substance that could exterminate numerous viruses causing severe or life-threatening ......

Leading microbiologist YuenKwok-yung, left ... Leading microbiologist YuenKwok-yung said the chemical compound, named AM580, is powerful because it doesn't just target a specific or small number of viruses, but instead breaks the pathway that allows many types of viruses to replicate in the human body....

But researchers said it could take about another 10 years to develop the drug. Led by the university’s top microbiologist, ProfessorYuenKwok-yung, the study identified that a gene named hWARS – found in every human cell – was the receptor for enterovirus-A71... ....

An infectious disease expert, ProfessorYuenKwok-yung, criticised an index used by the government to monitor rats in the community, saying it fails to reflect the seriousness of the problem ... But Chan said the index is just one of the many rodent control measures that authorities use ... ....

Researchers in Hong Kong on Friday (Sept ...YuenKwok-yung, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong who was the lead researcher on the case, called the case a “wake-up call” for authorities to improve the city’s environmental hygiene since it’s believed the virus had spread through rat droppings ... .......

The scientists in charge of the investigation, YuenKwok-yung and SiddharthSridhar, both from Hong Kong University, aren’t entirely sure how the man contracted hepatitis E, and the case is still under investigation ...It’s possible, say Kwok-yung and Sridhar, that his food supply was contaminated by infected rat droppings....

According to ProfessorYuenKwok-yung and his research team, the patient - a 56-year-old Hong Kong male who had undergone a liver transplant last year - presented with dysfunction of the liver graft some time after the surgery....

At a press conference yesterday, two University of Hong Kong professors - microbiologist YuenKwok-yung and liver expert Lai Ching-lung - gave more details. The female donor, aged 29, died at Princess Margaret Hospital in February, Yuen said ...Yuen said the outbreak came to light ......

The group, led by University of Hong Kong flu expert ProfessorYuenKwok-yung, created the “mature airway organoid culture system” – or so-called organs in a dish – which mimic the respiratory tract from the nose to the bronchus... ....